Summary: May 8, 2002: Statement by the Presidency of the European Union at the 57th Session of the UN ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) on Agenda Item 3: Economic aspects of security in Europe (May 7-10, 2002), (Geneva)
The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have thrown into stark relief the challenges presented by international terrorism and the wider issue of how to reinforce the contribution of the international community to ensuring greater stability in our region by promoting a more effective and solid approach to the economic aspects of security. The EU therefore welcomes and supports the efforts of all UN agencies' to contribute to a more secure and safe international environment. The UN ECE can and
must make its own specific input to this common endeavor. We therefore endorse the work of the Secretariat to identify what could be their particular contribution.
At the same time the EU underlines that the ECE input must be as efficient as possible and avoid duplicating the work of international institutions, particularly those directly related to international security. ECE activity should be based on the added value that it can bring in this field of work and, in particular on the distinct and widely recognized comparative advantages developed by the UN ECE during its more than 55 years of existence, eg in the area of norms and standards. The ECE is
not a security agency but could with it's extensive background in these fields contribute to the on-going debate. The ECE can be particularly useful when it comes to preventive measures and in addressing vulnerability within its areas of competence.
We believe that the sectors where the ECE could continue to make a more significant contribution include:
Transports: setting of safety standards in vehicles, roads, including tunnels, transport connections and networks, transport of dangerous goods by road, rail and waterways, etc.
Environment: avoiding environment degradation and cross-border pollution, promoting transparency and public participation and other measures to reduce tension. The respect of environmental agreements in international waters management is particularly pertinent in many ECE sub regions.
Energy: working to overcome disruptions of energy supplies with their damaging economic and social consequences, and promoting the safety of infrastructures (energy plants and pipelines).
Human settlements: promoting a safe and healthy urban environment.
This is why the EU and - we understand - many other ECE countries were surprised by the rather theoretical nature and scope of document E/ECE/1392. It does not correspond to, and in our opinion it clearly surpasses, the ECE role on security mentioned above, i.e.: to reinforce activities in the areas where the Organization has comparative advantage and can add value, and seems too philosophical and too little action oriented. We are concerned to find a detailed analysis of specific areas of
comparative advantages, in line with the suggestions above, absent from the paper. These are the areas where we believe that ECE can contribute to consolidating and improving security in the region. We take note of the Conference Room Paper 2, distributed only recently as a step in the right direction, that gives a much more concrete and clear picture of activities that ECE could perform to improve security.
In this context we should not forget the tremendous contribution that the process of European Integration has made - and will continue to make - to overall security - but particularly economic security - in our region. The founding of the European Community in 1957 brought peace and co-operation to an area that had been the source of conflict for centuries. All international observers have recognized the decisive contribution of this process. The subsequent expansion of the European Community
and the establishment of the European Union has taken that process further and projected the impact outside the Union, both through the enlargement process, by various types of Agreements with almost all ECE member States and through substantial financial and technical assistance and co-operation with other institutions and donors.
Of course, ECE cannot tackle these complex and challenging problems alone. It must seek out ways of working with international organizations and institutions in the region, such as the OSCE, and, where appropriate, with the EU, to ensure that the experience of ECE, once analyzed and refined, is used to complement the work in other institutions, so as to complete their own contributions to the overall UN process under UNSC 1373 and 1390. This experience could also be provided to other UN
agencies, particularly other regional Commissions.
Mr. Chairman, my colleague from the European Commission will comment later on specific areas where the EU is contributing to this process.
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